Terms & Conditions

Overview

By accessing or using this website (www.britishfriendly.com) (this "Website"), whether as a guest, registered member, intermediary or otherwise, you agree to be bound by the following Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy (www.britishfriendly.com/terms). If you do not agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy, please do not use or access this Website.

If you are accessing or using this Website as an intermediary, your relationship with us is subject to such additional terms and conditions as may be agreed between you and the Society from time to time (the "Intermediary Terms"). Any financial product or service made available through this Website may be subject to separate terms and conditions ("Product Terms"). In the event of any conflict between the Intermediary Terms, the Product Terms and these Terms and Conditions or our Privacy Policy, the Intermediary Terms shall prevail.

This Website is operated by British Friendly Society Limited, a society incorporated under the Friendly Societies Act 1992 with registered number 392F having its registered office at 45 Bromham Road, Bedford, MK40 2AA (the "Society"). British Friendly Society Limited is Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority with registered number 110013.

Accessing this Website

Access to this Website is provided "as is" and the Society reserves the right to withdraw or amend the service which this Website provides, or any products or services made available through it, without notice and for any reason. The Society will not be liable if for any reason this Website, or any products or services is unavailable in whole or in part at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of this Website to registered users.

If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of this Website's security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any third party. The Society has the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in the Society's opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms and Conditions, our Privacy Policy (www.britishfriendly.com/terms) or any relevant Intermediary Terms or Product Terms.

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to this Website. You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access this Website through your internet connection are aware of and comply with these Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy.

Intellectual Property Rights

The Society is the owner or licensee of the copyright and all other intellectual property rights in this Website, and in the material published on it. Such material is protected by laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

The trade marks and logos ("Marks") displayed on this Website are the property of the Society. You are not permitted to use these Marks without the prior written consent of the Society.

You may print off one copy and download extracts of any page(s) or other material (including full extracts of brochures, application forms or other material specifically provided by the Society for downloading purposes) for your personal reference and you may draw the attention of others to material posted on this Website. You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, graphics, photographs, video or audio sequences separately from any accompanying text.

The Society's status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of material on this Website must always be acknowledged.

You must not use any part of the materials on this Website for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from the Society or its licensors.

If you print off, copy or download any part of this Website or the materials on it in breach of these Terms and Conditions, your right to use this Website and those materials will cease immediately and you must, at the Society's option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

Regular Changes to this Website & these Terms and Conditions

The Society aims to update this Website regularly, and may change the content at any time. If the need arises, access to this Website may be suspended or terminated indefinitely. The material on this Website may be out of date at any given time, and the Society is under no obligation to update such material.

The Society may amend these Terms and Conditions at any time by updating this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes made, as they are binding on you. Some of the provisions contained in these Terms and Conditions may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on this Website.

The Society’s Liability

Commentary and other materials posted on this Website are not intended to amount to advice on which reliance should be placed. Save to the extent required otherwise by applicable law or regulation (including the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority):

(a) the Society disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by you or any third party (including any intermediary acting on your behalf); and

(b) the material displayed on this Website is provided without any guarantees, representations, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy or completeness.

You understand and accept that to the fullest possible extent permitted in law and under applicable regulation, the Society accepts no responsibility for any loss or damage or injury caused to you or your hardware, software, data, information or other proprietary material whether the Society causes such loss or injury directly or indirectly.

Your Access to this Website

The Society processes information about you in accordance with our Privacy Policy (www.britishfriendly.com/terms). By accessing or using this Website, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.

Viruses, Hacking & Other Offences

You must not misuse this Website by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to this Website, the server on which this Website is stored or any server, computer or database connected to this Website. You must not attack this Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.

By breaching this provision, you may commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. The Society may report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use this Website will cease immediately.

The Society will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your hardware, software, data, information or other proprietary material due to your use of this Website or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.

Linking to this Website

You may link to this Website's home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage the Society's reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association with or approval or endorsement from the Society where none exists. You must not establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.

You may not frame this Website on any other website, nor may you create a link to any part of this Website other than the home page. The Society reserves the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

Links from this Website

Where this Website contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. The Society has no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accepts no responsibility or liability for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

Jurisdiction & Applicable Law

These Terms and Conditions and any dispute or claim arising from, or related to, a visit to this Website, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.

The English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any such dispute or claim, although the Society retains the right to bring proceedings against you for breach of these Terms and Conditions in your country of residence or any other relevant country.

Your Concerns

If you have any queries or concerns relating to material which appears on this Website, or you wish to make use of material on this Website other than as permitted above, please contact enquiries@britishfriendly.com.

Complaints Procedure

This document sets out how we handle complaints that are covered by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

1. The Nature of a Complaint

These procedures cover any expression of dissatisfaction, whether oral or written, and whether initially justifiable or not, made by or on behalf of a complainant about the provision of, or failure to provide, a financial services activity by the Society. In the course of our investigations we will identify whether or not any complaint made meets the definition set out by the Financial Conduct Authority.

2. Eligible Complainant

In order to be eligible to make a complaint about the Society you must be a member, applying to become a member, or have been a member of the Society and the complaint must arise out of matters relevant to your transactions with the Society.

One of the first steps we will take when receiving a complaint is to identify whether a complainant is eligible. If we decide that the complainant is not eligible then we will write to that complainant accordingly and state our reasons for coming to that decision. We will review any response by that complainant to see whether or not the correct decision has been made. Upon receiving further information we will write to the complainant again saying whether or not they are eligible.

3. Availability of our Complaints Procedure

Copies are available on request and on our website www.britishfriendly.com.

4. The Procedure

Your complaint will be investigated by one of our staff who has sufficient competence to deal with the complaint and who preferably has not been involved in the matter which is the subject of the complaint. We will also ensure that the person dealing with the complaint either has authority to settle your complaint or can have ready access to somebody who can make a decision on your complaint.

5. Time Limits

We will investigate all eligible complaints made against the Society or any of its approved persons in accordance with the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority.

We will send written acknowledgement of your complaint, setting out our understanding of the nature of the complaint, within 5 business days of receipt.

The complaint will be investigated by an independent person who is competent to conduct such an investigation. The name of this person is Claudia Martini, Governance, Risk & Compliance Officer.

We shall take all reasonable steps to conclude our investigation as soon as possible.

If, after 4 weeks, we have not reached a conclusion we shall write to you informing you why we have not been able to resolve the matter, and advising when we shall make further contact.

If we have still not resolved the matter after a further 4 weeks we shall write to you again with reasons for the delay and when our final response may be expected. At this point you may refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and we shall provide details of how to do so.

You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge – but you must do so within six months of the date of this letter. The Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted at: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR. Tel: 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123, Website: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk, Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk. If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.

We maintain the correct records in respect of eligible complaints and are required to report to the Financial Conduct Authority periodically about such complaints.

6. Referring Complaints to other Firms

There may be situations where we have to refer your complaint to another firm. If, after we have investigated the complaint, we find that the complaint should have been forwarded to another firm, or the responsibility is shared with another firm, we will forward the complaint to them. We will advise you of this in writing giving you the contact details for the other firm so that you may approach them directly.

Last updated on 18.9.2017

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Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Reg. no: 110013. A member of the Association of Financial Mutuals. The Society is incorporated under the Friendly Societies Act 1992. Registered No. 392F Registered in England Number 3821812. Registered Office: 45 Bromham Road, Bedford MK40 2AA. BFS Member Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.